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Pension News
$77 billion in (NJ) pension fund won't cut it
Bergen County Record, 04/12/07
New Jersey's treasurer said Wednesday that he has full confidence in the state pension system except for one longstanding complaint -- there is far from enough money in it to cover increasing costs.
Lottery sued by former worker
Louisville Courier-Journal, 04/07/07
Lottery employees aren't part of the Kentucky Employee Retirement System. Instead, the lottery takes the 6.2 percent of their pay that would normally go to Social Security plus its own 6.2 percent contribution, and invests it in mutual funds.
Editorial: Not Just New Jersey
New York Times, 04/06/07
It would be naïve to believe that the rot in New Jersey’s public pension system is limited to New Jersey [where] legislatures and governors have routinely shortchanged the state’s public pension fund, while overstating the amounts that were contributed, sometimes by hundreds of millions of dollars.
N.J. Pension Fund Endangered by Diverted Billions
New York Times, 04/04/07
In 2005, New Jersey put either $551 million, $56 million or nothing into its pension fund for teachers. All three figures appeared in various state documents — though the state now says that the actual amount was zero.
Lawmakers' axes raised over gain-sharing
The Columbian (Washington State), 04/04/07
The Legislature is poised to break a pension promise it made to teachers and other public employees nine years ago but now can't afford to keep.
(Kentucky) Pension, spending bills may die
Louisville Courier Journal, 03/13/07
The House and Senate adjourned last night without resolving their differences over a state pension bailout and spending proposals. [Republicans want to reduce benefits for new hires and fund pension obligations with bond issue.]
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Benefit Crisis in the Public Sector
Click here for AFL-CIO's Public Pension Updates
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All across the United States, government workers at the state, county and municipal levels are increasingly confronted with threats to their retirement security. At the same time, the always difficult problem of maintaining quality health care benefits will face additional challenges as governments of all sizes are forced to recognize the costs of promising health care to future retirees.
A Standard and Poor's evaluation of 2004 pension funding levels in all 50 states found that only 3 states had more than enough dollars on hand to fully fund the benefits they have promised to active and retired employees. Funding levels in eight states were below 70% of liabilities and another six below 80%. Those states must make significant contributions to fund their plans or face further deterioration in their funded status. Without those contributions, they will eventually be unable to support the benefits on which employees and retirees depend.
Political pressure is growing in several states to restrict the growth of these benefits by changing from defined benefit to defined contribution plan designs. Such a change places the responsibility for managing pension funds on individual employees where their futures will be dependent on their skill - or luck - in the investment market.
Proposals to change to DC retirement plans are being driven by anti-tax activists with ties to national conservative organizations. These are the same people that have orchestrated the movement to cut taxes and starve government at all levels, hamstringing the public sector and denigrating its image of effectiveness with residents and citizens.
The fight to protect public sector retirement security is a critical one. We cannot win this battle unless we educate and involve every CWA member in the public sector. However, if we mobilize all workers, public and private, to support the public sector struggle, it will bring strength to a broader effort to protect benefits in all sectors. [Note: see coverage of corporate executives retirement benefits.]
This website will provide information to all CWA members on the public sector pension crisis. It will be updated regularly with news and analysis to keep our union informed and ready for this fight. |
